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Women’s March on Washington: What makes someone a feminist?

Ahead of the women’s marches that swept the nation and the world, questions arose as to whether people who describe themselves as both feminist and against abortion could be partners.

Published Jan. 21, 2017

LOS ANGELES—Juliet Miller has no qualms calling herself both pro-life and a feminist.

Years of soul searching, she says, led her to decide that she could not morally support abortion. Yet her women’s studies degree also guaranteed that she would always be an advocate for women’s rights: “I think that to be feminist is to be invested in issues that affect women and to want women to be able to flourish,” Ms. Miller says.

So when she learned that an anti-abortion rights group had this week been droppedfrom the list of official partners for the Women’s March on Washington – a solidarity protest set for the day after President Trump’s inauguration – Miller was disappointed.

“I think it’s a little bit unfair to people who are pro-life and maybe have a bit of a different ideology than the typical feminist, to tell them that they don’t get to be feminists, that they don’t count,” says Miller, now studying nursing at Arizona State University in Phoenix. “It sends a really powerful and polarizing message.”